Are Ready for the Next Map 3D?

Are you ready for the next release of AutoDesk Map 3D? Well if you are then be looking for it any time after April 5th. The “tentative” ship date is the 5th of April to the subscription members. So are you wondering what is new in the version? First the name change, the next version will be called AutoCAD Map 3D, seems the AutoDesk Map 3D is on the way out. But do not worry it’s only a name change not a complete new software package to learn all over again. So what is it the new and improved Map 3D other than a new name? First there are the improvements to the FDO or feature data objects. For those that tried using FDO before and were disappointed you need to take a stab at it in the next version. The speed of connecting to FDO has improved up to 80%. So if you have wanted a faster and more robust GIS system with spatial databases you got it now. Then for those that said it’s not a true GIS system if I can not join feature tables together and perform queries on the join tables, well guess what?You can now, in fact you might even need to go out and buy a new 40” monitor to see all the fields that you joined together from the tables. Metadata! Map power users have wanted to create and attach metadata to their files for years, well now they can. In case you were wondering why I posted about metadata a few months ago now you know, I was building up to tell users about the creating metadata tools in AutoCAD Map3D 2008. One of the nice things about it is you can create a template and auto create the metadata with just a few clicks. The only thing you will need to add would be specific to that file. The next new feature is the SDF export tool, for those that are not up to speed on what SDF is, it is the AutoDesk Spatial Data File, or as I like to put it AutoDesk answer to the ESRI shp files. Notice I said files not file. With SDF there is no separate file for the geometry (shp) and a file for the data (dbf) or the index (shx). It is all contained in one file. The coolest thing about SDF is they can contain all feature types (points, lines, polygons) in the same file with the new SDF 3 format introduced last year. . Ok so what is new about this in 2008? Well in order to export to SDF before you had to classify your objects in map, with the new version of MAP 3D you can export objects with out creating a classification file and then waste time trying to classify what you wanted to export. Last thing, AutoCAD MAP 3D 2008 has all the new features in AutoCAD 2008. Those that are still using Map 3D as plain AutoCAD can still work that way (why I don’t know) but now can get a few of the features similar to Map 3D . Things like Annotation Scaling. Your text can be scaled automatically by the viewport scale. If you used Civil 3D then you knows what this can do for you. Then there are the layers properties by viewport. Set different colors, line type or line weight by the viewport. Table enchantments and new text features, now these two AutoCAD features act more like that office program that users have been accustomed to over the years. So do you want to learn more and see these features in action? Well you can by going to one of the Product Launch Seminars in your area. If you happen to live or work in the South East USA then here are the dates and places where you can see me , yes me the Murph, demo some of these new features.

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May 3rd – Nashville, TN

May 8th – Jackson, MS

May 9th – Memphis, TN

May 15th – Mobile, AL

May 17th – Birmingham, AL

Just follow the link to register and you will have the opportunity of a life time to see the Murph in action.

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3 Responses to “Are Ready for the Next Map 3D?”

Just to add to what Jason says, our FME product also includes a commercial FDO provider that can read dozens (hundreds?) of spatial data formats directly into Map — visit http://www.safe.com/autodesk for details. And I can also say that the SDF3 format is a very nice one to work with and has lots of very nice features, including the ability to store complex paths consisting of arcs and linework, as well as full attribution, and multiple feature types all in the same file (and yes, our FME translation/transformation product can read/write these as well).

– Allows storing multiple feature classes in a single file. Rather than Autodesk’s answer to the shapefile(s), it’s closer to their answer to a personal geodatabase. I’m not sure if this is exposed in Map 3D yet though.

Also, in the open source FDO world some cool stuff is happening. My pet project (through Refractions Research and Mateusz Loskot) of a PostGIS provider is nearing completion. Also, Haris Kurtagic (author of the King.Oracle provider) just announced a new open source SQL Server provider based on the MsSqlSpatial project. And finally, the fdo2fdo utility has had some really major feature enhancements, making it an important tool for anyone that uses FDO to have in their back pocket.